


The Past is Just a Memory

by SunFlarerito



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Because I can, Control, Dad Sam (sort of), Dadza, Dream Needs A Hug, Dream Smp, Dreamon, Enderman Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Evil dream, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I call Wilbur both Wilbur and Ghostbur, Minecraft, Nightmare, Possession, Prison, Technoblade is angry, because i could, but also good Dream, confused dream, everyone is protective, george is sad, good ending, i want the Dreamon theory to be canon, idk why, no beta read, selfharm, so I wrote it, songinspired, this is also late at night so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:06:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 18,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28745919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunFlarerito/pseuds/SunFlarerito
Summary: Dream chuckled and stared at the two, a wide smile on his face.“What’s wrong? Are you losing?” Dream laughed a maniacal laugh.Tubbo shook his head, breath heavy.“No. We will win.” Tubbo sounded so confident.“No matter what you do,” Dream snarled, “I will always respawn. I will always come back and I will always kill you all and make all your lives hell.”The SMP has have enough of Dream torturing them all and playing with the strings. But when they throw him into the vault, they learn that it may not have been Dream they were interacting with.Inspired by the song Control by Halsey.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Luke | Punz, Clay | Dream & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sam | Awesamdude, Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Toby Smith | Tubbo, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 303
Kudos: 1645
Collections: Completed stories I've read, Dream Demon, Dreamwastaken Angst/Other Dream-centric fanfics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted the theory that Dream was possessed by a Dreamon to be canon, so I wrote it.  
> This is gonna be multiple chapters, but not that big. IDK when I'll update. I kinda just wrote because I wanted to.  
> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated.

_ I sat alone in bed till the morning. _

_ I'm crying, “They're coming for me.” _

Dream stared at his wall as he ran his thumb over the shape edge of his axe. He drew blood, but he wasn't really paying attention to that.

It was only a matter of time until his friends crashed down his door and fought him. It was only a matter of time until one of them won.

_ And I try to hold these secrets inside me. _

_ My mind's like a deadly disease. _

Dream thought of all strategies that could be used to take care of everyone. He didn’t know how many or who would come, but he could guess.

  
  
Sapnap and George have been on his case ever since he dethroned George. He  _ should  _ feel bad about it, but honestly, the play was genius. More power for him. His friends left him, but honestly, he couldn’t care less. If they couldn’t see his amazing play to take over the server, then that’s their fault.

He planned on Tommy and Tubbo showing up as well. Tommy’s exile had been another genius play on his end. He was able to manipulate the little kid to get what he wanted. And  _ damn  _ did it feel good.

Everything was just falling into place.

He heard the steps. They weren’t trying to be silent.

_ I’m bigger than my body. _

_ I’m colder than this home. _

The door to his house was broken down and the people just piled in.

Dream stepped up, axe in his hand, and he walked to the living room. (Quite an ironic name, since people were going to die there).

_ I’m meaner than my demons. _ _   
_ _ I’m bigger than these bones. _

He saw all their faces. All these people here to push him over the edge. Too bad for them, he would fly and would never fall.

He dodged and weaved, slashing his axe against his enemies. He got lost in the fight, the bloodlust too great.

  
  
He really was a PVP god.

Blood fell onto his face and stained his clothes. The smell of blood and iron wafted through the air. What a sweet aroma. He had sustained his own injuries, one in the left side of his face, breaking through his mask, and the other on his right thigh, but he ignored the pain and continued the battle.

This was such a pleasant experience.

  
  
They all screamed in pain, saying something about Dream being done for good? He wasn’t paying attention, and besides, he’s never done. He  _ always _ comes back.

_ And all the kids cried out, “Please stop, you’re scaring me” _

Dream kicked one down to the ground, Quackity, he realized as he struck his axe into his chest. He’ll respawn, but the death was sweet.

  
  
He dodged another swing of an axe. He swung up and ended that person’s life as well. Oh, it was Sapnap.

  
  
The feeling of power from killing them was so good.

  
  
_ I can’t help this awful energy. _

More fell. Fundy, Tommy, Sam, Punz.

Tubbo’s face showed fear and Dream killed Tommy. George ran over and protected the kid.

  
  
_ God damn right, you should be scared of me. _

Dream chuckled and stared at the two, a wide smile on his face.

“What’s wrong? Are you losing?” Dream laughed a maniacal laugh.

Tubbo shook his head, breath heavy.

  
  
“No. We  _ will  _ win.” Tubbo sounded so confident.

  
  
“No matter what you do,” Dream snarled, “I will always respawn. I will  _ always  _ come back and I will always kill you all and make  _ all  _ your lives hell.”

“Dream.” George started.

“What?” Dream turned to George. “Gonna try and  _ talk me out of it _ ? Sorry to burst your bubble, but it won’t work.” He twirled his axe around in his fingers. “ _ Nothing  _ will stop me.”   


  
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Tubbo stepped forward. “Techno!”

  
  
Dream froze and turned around, only to be shot by a firework of red, blue and white.

  
He shook his head and cleared his vision. Techno ran after him, sword out and Dream brought up his axe to block. Techno pushed forward and Dream’s feet scuffed the ground. He ducked under his sword and slashed up his axe across Techno’s side.   
  
Techno grunted, but didn’t pause and he struck at Dream again. Dream was already more injured than him, but he wasn’t going to give up. He got a couple more hits on him while Techno did as well.

  
  
Their blades collided and Techno brought his face close and snarled. “Your reign of terror is over.”

  
  
Glass shattered and Dream recognized the scent of a weakness potion engulfing Techno and him.

  
  
“Blood for the Blood God.” Techno backed up, causing Dream to stumble. He twirled his sword around, so his hilt was facing forward and he bashed it against Dream’s skull, knocking him out.

  
  
_ Who is in control? _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is short, but this story wasn't meant to be long. So enjoy a short conversation between Dream and Nightmare.

_Where am I?_

**It seems that I am stuck.**

_Why is it so dark?_

**I can’t get out.**

_Excuse me, who are you?_

**You don’t remember?**

_Well…_

**…**

_You’re Nightmare, aren’t you?_

**So you do remember.**

_What the hell did you do to me?_

**I did nothing to you. Don’t worry.**

_Then what the hell is going on!?_

**It seems we were thrown into a prison cell.**

_What the hell!? First off, me, there is no we. You just invade my body and think you own the place! And second off, you say that nothing is wrong, yet you follow up with that._

**Well for me there is nothing wrong.**

_What the fuck are you saying?_

**It’s been fun while it lasted, but it seems _you_ can’t escape this cell.**

_Wait_.

**I have no need to inhabit a useless body. You can’t go anywhere or do anything.**

_Wait, stop. What did you do!?_

**I think our time together has come to an end.**

_WHAT DID YOU DO!?_

**Enjoy life in prison. I have better places to be.**

_Nightmare! What did you do while you possessed me!?_

**You don’t know? Haha. It will be truly great to watch you try and fix your problems. But alas, I don’t want to overstay my welcome, so I’ll be leaving now.**

_Nightmare you bastard!_

**Enjoy the hell I have left you with.**

_Nightmare! NIGHTMARE!_

_…_

_Hello?_

_…_

_Oh god, what did you do?_

_…_

_George?_

_Sapnap?_

_…_

_Anyone?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream reflects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short update. I wrote this late at night so I'm sorry if it's bad.

Alone. Alone. Alone. Alone. Alone.

Dream cradled himself, rocking back and forth in the corner of the obsidian cell.

  
  
He felt so cold, as if the obsidian was sucking out the heat from his body.

He was  _ finally  _ freed from Nightmare’s grasp. He was  _ finally  _ allowed to control his body, but alas, it was too late.

  
  
Nightmare had gotten what he wanted. Control. And when it was his time to leave, he left Dream in the dust, picking up what remains of his shattered life.

Dream couldn’t remember  _ all  _ of what Nightmare did, but he got glimpses and it was horrible.

  
  
He had crowned George kind only to dethrone him shortly after. He exiled Tommy and tortured the poor teen. He pulled the strings, he played them all like pawns in a damn game.

Dream blamed himself. He allowed Nightmare to take him over. He didn’t even try to fight him. He allowed Nightmare to use his admin power and allowed him to use his body to do all his evil doings.

Everything that happened, it was all Dream’s fault. Even if he wasn’t in control of his own body, he may as well have been because he caused all of this tyranny. He pushed everyone away.

  
  
And now he was alone. Alone. Alone.

  
  
No more friends. No more allies. No more anything.

  
  
He deserved this.

  
  
He cried out and slammed his fists into the ground.

  
  
Pain. Pain. Pain.

  
  
He punched the walls within his time here, only to crack his knuckles open and cause them to bleed. He most likely broke his hand and wrist, but he didn’t care. He would slam his head into the obsidian walls. He would dig his nails into his skin and cry. He would pull on his hair and sob. He would hurt himself when he could. He deserved this.

When food and water came from the automation system, Dream ate barely enough to keep him alive.

Death was a way to escape this torture, but Dream wouldn’t kill himself. No. He deserved this torture. So he kept himself alive, barely.

He cried and cried and cried.

He didn’t know how long he was trapped in there. He kept track, but he couldn’t tell when day ended and night started, so his tally system could be off.

So far he had 173 tallies. 173 days trapped in this hellscape and that was just an estimate.

He deserved more.

He curled up into his corner as more bread was dispensed. He wasn’t hungry, so he left it in the corner along with the other uneaten or half eaten pieces of bread, all molding.

Pain. Torture.

  
_ Your fault. _

__   
__   
He sobbed and grabbed his knees, holding them to his chest.

He deserved this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream's friends think about what happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)

George stared off from the docks at L’Manburg. The ocean waves crashed up against the shore.

Why did he feel so guilty? Dream had been evil. He was the cause of so many problems. Why did he feel like he made a mistake? Why did he feel like Dream was in trouble?

  
  
_ Because he is.  _ A part of his mind said.

He shook his head. No. He was being crazy. He turned away from the ocean, hands in his pockets and walked towards the land.

Dream was fine. He was suffering like he was meant to.

_ You know he deserves a second chance. _

  
  
George cursed himself.

He picked up the pace as he trotted away from the shore.

He was fine.  _ Dream  _ was fine. Everyone was fine.

  
  
_ Are they? _

  
  
George paused and glanced back at the ocean.

  
  
One look at Dream won’t hurt. Will it?

\---

Phil watched as all the members of the SMP partied and had fun.

  
  
Tubbo and Tommy were finally reunited. Everyone was free. No one had to deal with Dream anymore.

  
  
Phil knew Dream was bad, but he was just a kid. Even if he was only 21, Phil believed he could be better.

God, why was he such a dad?

  
  
Maybe Dream needed some comfort. No one had dared to go and visit him in the months he’s been there. Maybe Philza will be the first.

Was that wrong? Would they question him if he went? Would they hate him and call him a traitor if he went to see if Dream was okay?

  
  
It’s not like he was opening the cell for Dream.

  
  
No. He was fine. He would just check up on Dream.

  
  
What else could happen?

  
  
\---

Techno laid on his bed, hand on his stomach, facing the ceiling.

  
  
That fight with Dream. Techno had been thinking  _ a lot _ about it.

Techno and Dream have been in multiple fights, the greatest one being the Mr. Beast sponsored fight.

He had trained for days to win. He had learned all of Dream’s tactics. He fought and won against all his trainers. And when the day finally came, he won. Barely.

  
  
During that fight, he got used to how Dream fought. The way he swung his axe. The way he dodged Techno’s hits. The way he used parkour to his advantage.

He could tell his opponent just by the way they fought. So why did Dream seem so… foreign?

He was  _ used  _ to the way Dream fought. Something was off. Something was wrong.

It’s been eating at Techno for months.

  
  
One quick check in on Dream to see what happened wouldn’t hurt.

  
  
So that’s what he did.

\---

Sam sat on a bench outside. He needed to think.

Throwing Dream in the cell was the only plausible solution, right? So why did it feel so  _ wrong _ ?

Sam had built that prison. He knew what horrors it held.

He made it a vault. A void.

  
  
And he locked Dream up in it.

  
  
God, he was probably suffering. Why was Sam so stupid?

  
  
He sat up and quickly made a dash to his house to grab the cell keys.

  
  
He just needed to see. He just needed to make sure that Dream’s torture wasn’t  _ that  _ bad.

  
  
Just one quick check up and he’ll be fine.

  
  
No problem.

\---

Punz watched as Sam ran inside his house. He knew what he was thinking, because he was thinking the same thing.

  
  
Dream was evil. He was insane. But he was also his friend. And even though it was necessary to throw him in there, was it really necessary to never visit him?

  
  
It was probably so lonely up there. He probably was going insane… well more insane then he was.

  
  
Punz should check up on him. Sam was already going. He would just tag along for extra safety.

  
  
Yeah, that’s why.

  
  
Punz jogged up to Sam’s house and knocked on the door.

\---

Five friends, all journeying to see their once called friend. They expected some harsh words, or maybe some form of change. But all didn’t expect to meet who they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's short, but now Dream's friends are on their way!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team meatup!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'ma be honest, I had this story idea late at night and I didn't plan on it becoming something big, but with all the comments and appreciation this has gotten, I feel like I need to make it something. So I'm literally just making this up as I go along so bare with me.
> 
> Also I'm posting everyday, but I don't know if I'm gonna keep doing that if I need to change the story. We'll see.

Phil was surprised when he saw Techno wandering up to the prison as well as he. Techno was looking around him, making sure no one was around before he headed towards the prison door.

Phil flapped his wings and made his way over to Techno.

  
  
“Techno.” he called.

  
  
Techno whirled around, sword in hand and he pointed it at Phil.

  
  
“Phil!” Techno sighed as he put his sword away. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  
  
“I can ask you the same thing.” Phil’s feet hit the ground.

Techno looked at the door then back at Phil.

  
  
“You’re getting him out, aren’t you?” Phil guessed.

  
  
“Are you mad?” Techno’s face didn’t change, but Phil knew he cared about Phil’s opinion.

  
  
“No. In fact, I was on my way to check up on him. But if you’re here to free him, I guess I will as well.”

Techno’s pig ears perked up when he heard that. “You’re getting him out?”

  
  
“Dream may have done some awful things, but he’s only 21, and he may need some comfort. Everyone left him. I just want to be there to see if he’s okay. But I know you’re not going to stop, so I’ll help you.”

Techno nodded and smiled at Phil. “Thanks Phil.”

  
  
Techno turned to the door and reached to open it when a voice made him pause.

  
  
“What the hell is going on here?”

  
  
Phil and Techno turned around to the sight of a tiny George walking towards them.

“Uhhhhhhh.” Techno trailed off.

  
  
“We’re saving Dream, and if you have a problem with it, you can fight us.” Phil huffed. He knew George was there when Techno overpowered Dream, he was the one who threw the weakness pot in order for Techno’s attack to be efficient. If anything, it was George who locked him up.

  
  
George’s shoulders fell. “You’re saving Dream?”

  
  
Techno and Phil paused when they saw George’s face. Why did he seem so happy?

  
  
“Yeeeees?” Techno tried, holding out the yes.

  
  
“Oh thank God.” George released a breath he had been holding.

“I’m sorry, what?” Techno said.

  
  
“I was coming to visit Dream as well. I’m glad I’m not the only one."

  
  
Phil and Techno were at a loss for words. George, the man who was dethroned by Dream and followed up by locking Dream in a cell in the  _ most secure prison ever _ , wanted to get Dream out.

George noticed their faces.

  
  
“Look,” he said, “Dream did some awful things, and I was angry when I decided to throw him into that cell, but with some time to reflect, I’ve noticed that that was probably not the best thing to do, especially the way we’ve treated him ever since we threw him in there. We didn’t visit him, showed him we’re still here. We threw him in there and just left him to suffer. I couldn’t stop thinking about what hell he must have been going through.”

“When I was fighting Dream, he seemed different in a way. He wasn’t fighting like he did when we had our challenge. And he just seemed… off.” Techno jumped in with his own concern for Dream.

  
  
“What are you saying?” George asked.

  
  
“It’s just… has Dream been acting different lately? Like for the past couple of months?” Techno sighed. “I don’t know, but to me, it seems like he’s been doing things that he wouldn’t normally do. Like exiling Tommy, dethroning you. You guys are his best friends, and I don’t care about any damn disks, he did everything for you two.”

George paused and Techno continued.

  
  
“You guys were inseparable. Every time I saw you, he was always by your side. You pulled pranks together. You did manhunt with each other. You were chased by a terminator robot together. You would always make these fun challenges and you would always laugh and scream and, god, you guys were annoying, but it was clear you were having fun.”

  
  
George remembered those moments. One time, George accidently turned Dream into his dog. Dream was being a bitch, but it wasn’t real, it was for the laughs. He would bite and attack George and would scream something along the lines about him disowning George. George remembered how genuine his laughs were.

  
  
There was also manhunt. Dream was incredibly good at it and would always beat George. He would always act creepy, but not like how he did now. He would laugh  _ with  _ George then, while he laughed  _ at  _ George now.

  
  
George sighed.

  
  
He remembered those moments with Dream. He was his best friend and he  _ should’ve  _ noticed the signs that Dream wasn’t himself anymore. What had happened to him? When did he change?  _ Why  _ did he change? Was there something going on that George didn’t know about?

  
  
Suddenly, the urge to get to Dream was too great.

  
  
“We should go in now.” George prompted. “Before someone sees us and gets suspicions.”

  
  
The two nodded and Techno opened the door. The gears and latches clicked as they were released and the door slowly opened. The three walked in and Techno closed the door behind him.

  
  
“I wouldn’t suppose you know where to go?” Techno asked George.

  
  
George sighed. He did know where to go. He was here when they locked the unconscious Dream up.

  
  
George nodded. “Follow me.”

  
George led them throughout the prison, walking down hallways and going up stairs. Eventually, George led them to a singular cell.

  
  
“He’s in there.” George pointed, too scared to get closer. Ge had no idea how Dream was going to act.

  
  
Techno stepped forward and paused, his hand picking up the lock. “Does anyone have a key?”

  
  
George facepalmed. “Sam would, it is his prison after all."

  
  
“What are we saying about me?”

  
  
The three turned around to see Punz and Sam walk up to them.

  
  
“Sam!” Phil’s wings fluttered behind him. “We could use your help.”

  
  
“Why are you trying to open Dream’s cell?” Sam asked, holding his arms over his chest.

  
  
They all paused. Was Sam going to help them?

  
  
“Because we want to see what’s going on with Dream. We believe he deserves a second chance.” Phil explained.

  
  
Sam and Punz smiled.

  
  
“Well in that case…” Punz started. Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out a key.

  
  
“I guess we can help you.” Sam finished.

  
  
He walked over to the door and inserted the key. The lock fell to the floor with a clang.

  
  
They all took a deep breath before Punz pushed the door open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going slow, but like I said, I'm making it up as I go along. I don't plan making it really long, but it's longer than I originally planned.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George talks to Dream, and he isn't happy about what he finds out.
> 
> AKA, George is angry at some certain Dreamon, but first, Dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is short and sucks. I wrote it late at night, but at least they found Dream.  
> The next couple of chapters should be better. I wrote this before I planned on changing the entire plot so it may be a bit weird, but please just bare with me. I'm trying.

Dream’s eyes were closed. He didn’t even hear the talking outside his cell.

  
  
Dream sat in the corner of his cell. His uneaten bread layered the ground, but the smell of the mold didn’t affect him anymore. It was just another reminder that he should suffer.

He was curled up into himself, hugging his knees up to his chest. A single tear fell from his face. He shouldn't cry, he brought this upon himself. Doomed to be lonely forever.

  
  
Dream  _ did  _ hear the door open, but he just discarded it as a trick of his mind, giving him hope of freedom when he knew he deserved none.

  
  
He heard footsteps, but he paid them no attention.

  
  
No one is here. No one will save him.

  
  
“Dream?”

  
  
Dream’s eyes flutter open. That… wasn’t possible. George hated him. George threw him in here. George would never come for Dream. Never.

  
  
Dream closed his eyes again and shook his head. Just his mind playing tricks. Just his mind playing tricks.

  
  
“Dream, I’m here.”

  
  
No, you’re not.

“No.” Dream groaned. His voice was scratchy from the months of not using it. “You’re not real.”   
  


\---

George gasped when he saw the cell.

  
  
The smell of moldy bread wafted up towards his nose and he gagged, nearly throwing up. The smell was awful. He covered his nose and mouth and walked in.

Blood. Blood everywhere.

  
  
The obsidian walls were covered in dried blood. Did Dream try to punch them? If so, how bad were his hands?

  
  
George took a deep breath and turned to the corner where Dream sat and oh, was it a sad sight.

  
  
Dream was covered in blood as well. His knuckles were cracked open and bleeding, most likely from punching the walls. His dark pants had smears of dried blood all over them. His hoodie had turned from its bright, vibrant green, to a depressing state of colour. His blond hair seemed to be brown with all the dried blood caked in it. There were tear tracks on his face from when he had cried. He looked skinnier than when George last saw him. His jacket wasn't snug on him anymore, though instead, was baggy and hung loosely upon his limbs. Dream used to be so big and terrifying, but now he was small and fragile.  
  
George hated himself. He hated for ever throwing Dream in here and leaving that as that. He should've tried to talk to him, he should've tried to fix the error of his ways.

But now Dream was crying in a cell, broken, and George felt like he was going to cry as well.

  
  
George couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Dream cry.

  
  
What happened to him? What torture did this place place upon his mind? How much was he broken?

  
  
“Dream?” George tried.

His voice seemed to have sparked something, because Dream opened his eyes weakly. What was once a beautiful, vibrant, forest green colour, was now a dull green (or yellow, in George’s case), looking that it had a hint of grey to them.

Dream was still for a moment before he shook his head and closed his eyes.

  
  
“Dream, I’m here.” George tried again. _Please Dream. I'm sorry for what I've done. Please look at me so I can apologize._

  
  
“No.” Dream said. George’s heart dropped when he heard how raspy his voice was. “You’re not.”  


  
  
Phil had walked in and placed a hand on George’s shoulder, clearly seeing how taken aback he was.   
  


Not real? George was clearly right here. What could Dream possibly mean by ‘not real’?

“Dream.” Phil picked up the conversation when George could not. “Why would we not be here?”

  
  
“Because you all hate me.” Dream croaked. He followed up his sentence with a coughing fit. When he was done, Phil continued.

  
  
“I know we threw you in here, but we’re here now, to get you out.”

  
  
Dream’s eyes fluttered open and he shook his head. “No. I deserve this.”

  
  
Now that  _ definitely _ was not Dream. Dream wouldn’t condemn himself to stay in hell. What the hell was happening!?

  
  
“Dream, you don’t deserve this.” Phil reached out, but Dream only flinched away.

  
  
“I allowed him to take over me. I gave him power. I’m the cause of everything. I made everyone hurt.”

“Who the hell is  _ him _ ?” Techno stepped into the cell.

  
  
Dream was silent, debating whether or not to tell them. “Nightmare.” Dream looked away.

  
  
“Who-Who’s Nightmare, Dream?” Phil asked.

  
  
Dream paused for a moment, again, thinking to see if he should tell them. “A Dreamon.” he finally answered.

  
  
“What the hell is a Dreamon?” Punz asked.   
  


George paused. Was it possible?

  
“I remember Sapnap telling me some stuff about Dreamons.” George explained. “He said that Tubbo and Fundy were a duo of ‘Dreamon Hunters’ before he joined. He said that they did a ritual to exorcise the Dreamon in Dream before he met up with them.”

“Is it possible that they exorcised the wrong person?” Sam suggested. They all paused.

“Are you suggesting that a _ Dreamon  _ was in charge of Dream for all that time?” George asked, trying to remember how long it’s been since Sapnap joined the hunters.

They all paused and turned to Dream. Dream only shook his head.

  
  
“Dream is that true?” George asked. Dream turned to him and a tear fell down his face.

  
  
“I’m sorry.” is all he said.

George’s heart broke. His friend was trapped in his own body while a Dreamon, Nightmare, controlled all his actions. What he said, what he did, who he hurt. No wonder Dream seemed like he didn’t care about Sapnap or George, it’s because it wasn’t Dream at all.

  
That means that George had been blaming Dream for things he didn’t do.

  
  
“I can’t.” George shook his head, tears welling in his eyes. “I can’t stay here any longer.” He would have to take a minute to wrap his brain around all of this.

  
  
Phil nodded and picked Dream up. Dream curled up into Phil’s chest. He was shaking, probably too weak to fight and too touch starved to turn away, otherwise, he would. George was never going to leave Dream’s side after this.

  
  
“Let’s go somewhere safe.” Phil left the cell and the others followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dream! Dream! Dream! Dream! Dream!  
> Also, Dadza moment because I said so. We're also gonna have a dad Sam moment later on, also because I said so.  
> Everything that happens in this story is because I said so.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George is there when his friend wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my computer got a virus and I had to reset the entire thing to get rid of it so I didn't plan on posting today, but I still have a phone so take this.  
> *Throws this chapter at you*

Dream’s eyes fluttered open and he was somewhere else. Somewhere safe?

No. He was doomed to a life in the prison. This was only a dream.

He closed his eyes again. He would wake up back in the prison later.

“Dream, are you up?”

George? Okay, his mind is getting really creative. He never had a dream with George in it.

“Dream. I saw your eyes open. Can you just look at me? Please?”

What was George going to do to him? Torture him? Make fun of him before locking him away for good?

It was George’s doing that got him captured.

But Dream was the idiot here. He was the one who allowed Nightmare to roam freely using his body.

Maybe he deserved the torture that this dream would give him.

Dream opened his eyes with some struggle and he turned to look up at George who smiled meekly.

Was George crying?

“G-George?” Dream rasped. Why was his friend crying? Dream should be the one crying.

“Hey Dream.” George sat on the side of Dream’s bed, holding Dream’s broken hand in his own.

“T-This is a dream.” Dream’s head rolled to one side. There was no way George would be this kind to him after all that happened.

“What?” George asked.

“This i-isn’t real. I-I’ll wake u-up… and you’ll b-be gone.” Dream closed his eyes again. Just get it over with.

His throat felt like sandpaper. It was grinding together every time he spoke.

“Dream…” George sighed. “You’re not going back. We freed you.”

Dream opened his eyes again and turned towards George. “What?” Was he telling the truth? Was this not a dream? Why did they free him? Wasn't he a monster?

“Sam, Punz, Techno, Phil and I decided to get you out.” George smiled. “You’re free.”

Dream shook his head. “No.”

“No? What do you mean no?” George situated himself so he was closer to Dream.

Okay, so maybe this wasn’t a dream, and he was free. But he didn’t deserve to be. He caused so much pain.

“I need to stay in there. I deserve it.”

George shook his head. “Is this about Nightmare?” He sighed. “It’s not your fault for what Nightmare did.”

“I allowed him in. I allowed him to control me.”

“Dream, I don’t think you had any say in the matter.”

Dream turned away. He didn’t even know if that was true, but he still didn’t want to admit it. Even if Nightmare came in without his say, he still let it all happen.

“Dream, don’t turn away.”

“Y-You should hate me.”

“I don’t hate you. I hate Nightmare. He’s the one who tortured this server. He’s the one who pushed us away. And I’m the one who allowed it. I’m sorry Dream.”

Dream looked back at George.

“No matter what happened, it wasn’t you who did all those things, it was Nightmare.”

“Everyone still t-thinks it was me though.” Dream coughed into his elbow.

“We’ll fix that. We'll make it right."

“What?” Dream’s eyes lit up.

“People need to know that it wasn't you in control. We'll tell everyone and it'll be fine."

“Will they f-forgive me?” Dream rasped.

“Yes.” George lifted his hand from Dream’s and started combing it through his hair. Dream hummed, closing his eyes, and leaned into George’s touch unconsciously. “I did. They will too.”

Dream opened his eyes again and finally, gave George a smile.

“And Sapnap?”

“Oh.” George gave off a little laugh. “He’s going to be super excited to see you, I can already hear his screaming.”

“Y-You’re the o-one who screams, George.”

“Dream, not right now.” George said, but he couldn’t even stop the smile from spreading on his face. Even Dream started to wheeze. It was weak, but it was there. George smiled at Dream.

“This is good, right?” Dream asked.

“Yes Dream.” George continued to pet his hair. “We’ll fix what Nightmare did, together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted Geroge and Dream moment, so I wrote it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dad Sam because I said so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I took a few days of for mental health reasons. I felt like absolute shit lately, but I felt like I needed to get this chapter out and I honestly have no idea what this is. Sorry for the delay, but I don't know if I'll post every day from now on.

Dream had fallen back asleep while George combed his hair. His breaths were even and his face was calm, unlike it was when they took him out of the cell.

George laid Dream back down on the bed and pulled the blankets up to his chin.

George whispered to Dream goodnight, kissing him gently on the forehead (platonic only!) then he left the room to meet up with Phil, closing the door as slowly and quietly as possible as to not wake Dream up. He needed his rest. He was going through a lot, blaming himself for Nightmare's doing. George hoped their little conversation helped. He got Dream to laugh, or wheeze in Dream's case. He just felt so bad that Dream had to go through all of that. What must it have been like to live in your body, not being the one in control, while someone else uses it to do their evil bidding?

George forgave him for everything that had happened. It was all Nightmare’s fault.

George would make sure that everyone would forgive Dream. It was the least he could do.

George walked up to where Phil was cutting some carrots to put into a vegetable soup for Dream. He sat in a chair that was pulled up to the island. He sighed and rested his head on his hand. Phil grabbed some kale and snipped it up, throwing it into the boiling water in a pot. He grabbed some potatoes and cut them as well.

“Need any help?” George asked. Phil looked up from where he was cutting potatoes and paused.

“I guess you can cut the rest of the potatoes while I tend to the soup.” Phil handed him the cutting board with the knife on it while he stirred the soup in the pot.

George took the knife and started to cut a potato into nice little pieces.

“How is he?” Phil asked after a moment of silence. He clearly heard George and Dream having a conversation.

“Still shaken up, but I managed to get him to laugh, even if it was weak.” George barely avoided stabbing himself with the knife.

“Stop pulling yourself down.” Phil noticed George’s shaking fingers. George placed the knife down and ran his hands through his hair.

“I pushed him away when he needed a friend the most.” A tear made its way down his face.

“I think no matter what we did, Nightmare would have found a way to isolate Dream. It’s not our fault.”

George nodded in understanding.

“I just wish I could do more.”

“Being here for Dream is enough. For now. Later, we’ll go kick Nightmare’s ass.” Phil smirked then he took the cut potatoes and placed them into the soup mixture.

“You can count me in.” George smiled.

No one and George means no one messes with his friends.

\---

Sam kicked the snow off of his boots and pushed open the door. He walked to the kindle box and dropped some freshly cut logs into it.

He brought a gloved hand to his nose and wiped it, the cold making it numb. He took off his coat and gloves and placed them on the coat rack near the door. He kicked off his boots so he wouldn’t get Phil’s and Techno’s floor all wet.

George was cutting some food while Phil was mixing a soup. Phil was humming a song and George was humming along. Sam recognized it as the L’Manburg anthem.

He sighed and walked over into Dream’s room, desperate to see the man.

Neither Phil or George said anything while Sam walked and opened up the door to Dream’s room. He closed it quietly behind him and turned to his asleep friend.

He walked over and sat in the chair next to Dream. He grabbed a book on the night stand and started to read. The only sounds in the room was the noise of his friend’s breathing, and honestly, that’s all Sam needed right now. He just needed to know that Dream was safe, that Dream was alright.

He paused his reading when he heard the quiet mumbles of Dream. He turned his head and Dream groaned as he shifted on the bed. He rolled over, now facing Sam and breailiy opened his eyes.

“S-Sam?” Dream croaked.

“H-Hey.” Sam closed the book with a soft thud and placed it back on the nightstand.

“How ya feeling Dream?” He reached up and placed a hand in Dream’s hair, feeling the heat from his head.

“Like shit.” Dream slurred, a fever definitely catching up to him. He moved his hand down to Dream’s forehead, feeling the sweat pool up around his arm and Dream shivered.

Sam sighed. Definitely a fever.

“I didn’t feel this sick before.” Dream whined. He followed up with a groan as he moved to lay on his back.

“It must now be catching up with you.”

Dream groaned again and closed his eyes.

“I think Philza knew this was gonna happen. He was making soup last time I checked. I’ll go see if I can nag some for ya.”

Dream nodded as Sam got up and made his way back to the kitchen where Phil was putting the final touches on the soup. George had relocated to the living room and was looking through some code on the server.

“Hey Phil.” Sam greeted as he leaned up on the counter.

“Hello Sam. What’s up?” Phil sprinkled some salt into the soup.

“Dream woke up and he has a fever. I was wondering if I could get some soup for him.”

Phil nodded. “I guessed this would happen. Here.” Phil took a ladle and poured some soup into a bowl, placing a spoon in it before handing it to Sam. “Be careful with it.”

Sam nodded, saying a quiet thanks before he walked over to Dream's door. He opened it by hitting it with his hip and he closed it with his foot once he walked in.

He walked over to Dream who had thrown the blankets off of him.

“Dream.” Sam sighed as he placed the soup down. “Those blankets need to stay on you.”

“I’m t-too hot. And too cold. M-My body can’t make up its mind on a temperature.” Dream groaned, his arm resting on his head.

Sam rolled his eyes and moved Dream’s pillow up against the headboard.

“Sit up for me.”

Dream grunted as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, his back resting against the pillow. Sam grabbed the blankets and moved them up to his waist. He grabbed the bowl of soup and scooted the chair closer to Dream.

“Your hands are broken, so I’m gonna feed you the soup.” Sam brought the spoon up to Dream’s mouth and he opened wide for it. /he closed his mouth and swallowed the food without complaining.

“If my hands are broken, why don’t you use a healing potion?” Dream took another spoonful of soup.

“Because you will probably throw it up before it does anything.” He dipped the spoon back into the bowl, grabbing more of the streaming soup and brought it back up to Dream’s lips. Dream nodded and ate another bite. He swallowed and groaned.

“Hurts.” he mumbled.

“I know.” Sam sighed, but it’ll help you.

Dream nodded again and took another bite of the spoonful Sam had.

Right now, in this moment of Sam feeding Dream, everything was calm and Sam could stay here, just taking care of his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk what I even wrote.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Techno and Punz get some information and new people join.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I posting this instead of doing school? Why yes, yes I am.

Techno patted the sword on his side, keeping a watchful eye out for anyone who planned on attacking him. No one saw them escaping with Dream, in fact, they made a pretty clean escape, but Techno wasn’t taking any chances. He was observant like that.

He had Punz with him, another great warrior. If anything happened, Techno could count on him to have his back, even if he didn’t particularly need it, but the gesture was nice nonetheless.

They made their way to the camp where Techno has heard that Tubbo, Fundy and Sapnap made it into their base for their hunting shenanigans. Hopefully some of them will be there to answer a few of Techno’s questions.

Luckily, as they came over a hill, Tubbo and Sapnap were talking. They weren’t in their hunter uniforms, but they stayed near their, as Tubbo called, “Containment Pit for Containing Shit”.

Tubbo really was a wild kid.

“Tubbo; Sapnap.” Techno called as he and Punz made their way to them.

“Oh, hi Techno. Hi Punz.” Tubbo waved to them.

Punz nodded in acknowledgment.

When Techno announced that he was going to find these so-called “Dreamon Hunters” to find more information about Dream and Nightmare, Punz was quick to volunteer to come with him.

“If they know something about that bitch that hurt Dream, I’m going to be there to hear about it.” Is what he said as he teamed up with Techno.

Techno just shrugged and led the way. Punz didn’t ask questions. Punz didn’t try to bring up a conversation, he just looked ahead and kept walking, something Techno admired about him.

He didn’t talk to Punz a lot, but they had some things in common. One, their need to kick Nightmare’s ass (granted, everyone probably wanted to do this), and two, their skills in fighting. Punz wasn’t as good at Techno, but he could still swing a sword better than most.

“What are you doing here?” Tubbo asked.

“I was looking for you.” Techno answered. “Where’s Fundy?”

“Busy talking to Quackity.” Tubbo shrugged. “What do you need?”

“We’re looking for information on Dreamons.” Punz answered. “We know you dealt with one before. We want to know what happened.” Punz crossed his arms over his chest.

“That’s something Tubbo knows. I wasn’t here for our first gig.” Sapnap ruffled his hair.

“You talking about Dream?” Tubbo asked. They both nodded.

“Well, it was the first gig we had.” Tubbo explained. “It got me and Fundy together to form this group. Sapnap joined later, but that was after we dealt with Dream.”

“How exactly did you deal with Dream?” Punz asked.

“We were looking around the server for anyone who was possibly a Dreamon then Dream joined.” Tubbo told them. “We went to talk to him when we had the epiphany that Dream was a Dreamon. So, like any hunter would do, we asked him to come to our altar, careful to stay hidden behind a barrier of hoed land.”

“Hoed land?” Techno raised an eyebrow.

“Dreamons can’t pass through hoed area. It’s like a barrier that stops them.” Sapnap explained.

“Noted.” Techno smiled. “Continue.”

“We built an altar over at the Badlands earlier that day.” Tubbo continued. “So we brought Dream over and repeated a mantra with him. He started to freak out in the middle of it. We left the server and came back on to him blowing shit up. He told us that he felt… different and new. We asked him questions to see if he was truly free.”

“And?” Punz interrupted.

“He answered them normally. It was good news.”

Tubbo took a deep breath. “We next went to a test of emotion, where we went to see how he was affected by an iron door. It… didn’t go well.”

“What do you mean?” Techno asked.

“We locked him up with the iron door, and he immediately started to attack us. He was terrifying. He chased after us, but Fundy was a quick thinker and was able to access a happy memory Dream had. Dream flew up into the air then fell. When he came to, he said he felt new. I suspected that he was a “transmuted Dreamon” which means he swapped between the two, so when he flew up, he was fully Dreamon, but when he fell, he was back to himself. We performed the ritual and successfully freed Dream.”

Techno frowned. Well obviously they didn’t. Punz frowned as well.

“What?” Tubbo took in their looks.

“Is it possible to lock the person out and have the Dreamon in control?” Techno asked.

Tubbo rubbed the back of his neck, thinking for a while. “I mean, I guess. The Dreamon would have to be a damn good actor, but it’s possible.”

“Interesting.” Techno rubbed his chin.

So far, all Techno learned is that this Dreamon, Nightmare, somehow possessed Dream a while ago, probably due to his crazy skills and somewhat bloodlust, but he was a “transmuted Dreamon” so Nightmare wasn’t fully in control, Dream and him had to fight over who was in control of the body. But when Tubbo and Fundy performed the ritual, in hopes to free Dream, they accidentally locked Dream away, giving the Dreamon free reign on Dream’s body. The Dreamon had already spent a good amount inside of Dream to know how to answer the questions Tubbo and Fundy asked and how to act around everyone. He knew how to play them all like puppets, and he succeeded. He took over Dream’s body and pushed his way to the top of chaos.

Techno wanted to ram his sword straight through the Dreamons face. But he needed to find them first.

“What exactly does a Dreamon look like?” Techno asked.

“Well, like the person they’re possessing, but when they’re not in a body, they look tall and slender, like an Enderman, but all shadows and mist.” Tubbo said.

“Shadows and mist?” Punz jumped in. “Like BadBoyHalo?”

Techno recalled what the muffin man looked like. He wore black and red clothes, but his skin was just pure dark mist that took the form of a body.

“No, Bad’s just weird.” Sapnap shrugged. Punz shot him a glare. “We already checked him out, he’s fine.”

“And plus, we wouldn’t be able to see Bad if he was a Dreamon in pure form.” Tubbo added.

“How so?” Techno asked.

“Well, we see Dreamons when they’re in a body, because, well, they’re in a body, but in their pure form, no one can see them, except for other Dreamons. Trained hunters can sense them, but even that can take a lot of time. You have to have a strong connection with Dreamons in order to see them. A Dreamon can make themselves known, but they prefer to stay hidden.”

“If you were possessed by a Dreamon, but they left, would you be able to see them?” Techno asked.

Tubbo shrugged. “Yes and no.”

“What do you mean?” Punz stepped forward.

“It depends on how long they’ve possessed you.” Tubbo said.

“How does a couple months sound?” Techno asked.

“Oh yeah, totally. You would totally be able to see Dreamons after that long of possession.”

Techno and Punz eyed each other.

“That’s how we find him.” Punz said.

“Yup.” Techno nodded. They both turned to leave.

“Wait, hold on.” Sapnap interrupted. “Are you guys going Dreamon hunting without us?”

Techno and Punz turned around. “Uh…” Techno shrugged. “Yeah.”

“We’re the Dreamon hunters here.” Sapnap pointed at himself and Tubbo. “If you’re going, we’re going.”

Techno looked at Punz.

“Are you sure you want to deal with this Dreamon?” Techno asked.

“Yes.” Sapnap nodded. “Just tell us who the Dreamon is and we’ll be golden.”

Techno huffed. “Fine. We’re hunting Dream’s Dreamon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SAPNAP AND TUBBO! SAPNAP AND TUBBO!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short, so you're gonna get another one today. Idk when, but it will be in a couple of hours.

Tubbo froze. Dream’s Dreamon? But they got rid of Dream’s Dreamon. They freed him! He was fine! He was normal! He was Dream!

“That-That’s not possible.” Tubbo gulped and shook his head, taking a step back. “We freed him! We locked the Dreamon away!”

“Tubbo.” Techno took a careful step forward. The boy already had tears in his eyes and he didn’t want to frighten him more. “The only person you locked away was Dream himself.”

“No!” Tubbo screamed. The boy fell to the ground and huddled into himself. Techno knelt down and wrapped him in a hug.

  
  
“Wait.” Sapnap was still putting two and two together. “That means-”

  
  
“Ever since that day. Ever since that ritual,” Punz explained, “it’s never been Dream in charge.”

  
  
Sapnap looked up at him, tears in his eyes. “But that means-”

  
  
“Dream lost control of his body. And everything that he did from that day forth, wasn’t actually Dream.”

“So-So, the blowing up L’Manburg, exiling Tommy, dethroning George-”

“It was never Dream.”

Sapnap fell to the ground on his knees and Tubbo cried louder.

“So, I was yelling at… I was mad at...”

  
  
“Nightmare.” Techno finished. “That’s what he calls himself.”

  
  
Sapnap looked up, on the verge of crying.

  
  
“When you threw Dream into that cell, the Dreamon found his body useless and left. Dream finally woke up in that cell, cold and alone, until Techno, Phil, Sam, George and I broke him out. But that was a couple days ago. Who knows what suffering he went through until then.”

Sapnap finally started to cry and Tubbo cries were louder.

"Oh my god, this is my fault!" Tubbo wailed.  
  
  


"No, it's not." Techno ran circles with his thumb on Tubbo's back. "No body knew and we all pushed him. This is all our fault. But we can't dwell on the past, we need to think about where Nightmare is going to go; we need to stop him from hurting Dream or anyone else."

  
  
“T-Then if the Dreamon left Dream, then the Dreamon w-will be looking for a new body.” Tubbo said through tears. “When it finds out Dream is out, it’ll probably go back to him since he’s preferable, b-but until then, h-he’ll be looking for someone else. W-We have some time though. He's most likely weak from leaving Dream after so long.”

  
  
“Can we see him?” Sapnap looked over and Techno an Punz.

  
Techno stood up, Tubbo in his arms. He looked at Punz then back at Sapnap.

  
  
“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tubbo guilt. I can't write. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghostbur plays the guitar for Dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I promised two chapters yesterday... that didn't happen. So you get two today, and I'm not waiting. As soon as this one goes up, I'm getting the other one up.

"PHIL!"

Ghostbur flew directly through the door and Phil could hear the crash from a guitar as it fell on the patio outside.

Ghostbur cringed and looked back at the door.

"I forgot physical items can't phase through objects with me."

Phil sighed and George laughed.

Wilbur phased through the door again and Phil could hear the guitar be picked up. Then there was a quiet, soft knocking on the door.

Phil walked over and opened the door.

"PHIL!" Ghostbur yelled again as he dashed into a hug.

"Hello Ghostbur." Phil hugged him back.

"And George!" Wilbur smiled at him. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

George looked up from the code and swished the screen away.

"I'm visiting." He said.

"What for?" Wow. Ghostbur sometimes was a bit too pushy.

"To make things right." George sighed.

"Did you do something to Phil?" Ghostbur asked, glancing at Phil.

Phil shook his head. "He's here for Dream."

"Isn't Dream in prison?" Ghostbur perked up.

"He used to be, but he isn't now."

"We need to tell everyone!" Ghostbur got up with excitement and he dashed out the door. Dream was free! Dream was fine! This would surely be news everyone in the SMP would want to hear! Philza grabbed the collar of his hoodie and swung Wilbur back.

Wilbur just stared at him dazed.

"Nobody can know Wil." Phil sighed. "He was possessed by a Dreamon the entire time. He's trying to recover."

Possessed by a Dreamon? Were those those funny things Tubbo talked about once? Wilbur couldn't remember.

"So Dream wasn't Dream?" He asked. Phil nodded.

"That's great!" Ghostbur clapped his hands excitingly. "That means that everyone can forgive him!" If Dream wasn't in control that entire time, that means everyone would have to forgive him. Wilbur didn't believe that the Green Man could ever do something so drastic, but now, his point was proven.

Phil shook his head. "It's not like that Wil."

Wilbur floated down to the ground. "Is he okay? Does he need some blue?" Wilbur reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue rock. "Can I give this to him?" He knew when someone wasn't feeling their best. Call it a gut feeling. And by the way Phil and George looked, he could sense that Dream wasn't doing so hot. Maybe a sweet song and some blue will help cheer him up.

Phil looked to George who had already gotten up and walked over to Dream's room. He opened the door just a crack and talked to Sam.

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Ghostbur is here. Can he see Dream?"

"We probably need to take a break from the soup for now. I don't want him to choke. I'll give him the rest later, but for now, sure, Wil can come in."

Wilbur threw the door open and rushed in. He winced when he saw how scarred Dream was. Maybe he shouldn't be so loud and frantic.

"Hey Dream." Ghostbur held out the blue to him, trying to calm himself down. "Want some blue?"

Dream stared at it before reaching out and grabbing the blue rock. A swirl of blue colour filled in the rock.

Ghostbur gave Dream a soft smile. With Dream focused on the rock, he wouldn't be swarmed with any other negative thoughts. It was a simple, yet effective strategy.

"You must be feeling sad." Ghostbur grabbed his guitar and swung around to his front. "Do you want to hear a song?"

Dream stared at him before nodding. He was staying silent, but Wilbur didn't mind. He didn't have to speak if he didn't want to.

Wilbur smiled and closed his eyes, digging his fingers into the strings and strumming a soft cord.

Wilbur played a tune he just made up from the top of his head. He made it soft and gentle, but happy in order to please Dream. And he was glad when he saw a smile form on the man's face.

Wilbur finished that song, but figured one of the old times would be better for Dream. Maybe it could remind him that he was cared for and that life isn't hell. Maybe he could just activate some nostalgia.

"Well I heard there was a special place," Everyone's heads perked up as Wilbur strung a cord. "Where men could go and emancipate. The brutality and tyranny of their ruler." Dream cringed a bit at that part, but Wilbur kept going. "Well this place is real, you needn't fret, with Wilbur, Tommy Tubbo, fuck Eret." Wilbur noticed Dream smiled again. He copied that smile and continued. "It's a very big and not blown up L'Manburg. My L'Manburg." Phil sighed before he joined in with Phil. "My L'Manburg." George and Sam joined next. "My L'Manburg." Soon, Dream took a deep breath and with a scratchy throat joined in on the last sentence. "My L'Manburg."

Wilbur strummed the last chord and smiled at Dream, looking pleased with himself.

"Thank you for that Ghostbur." Dream smiled back at him. Ghostbur lit up with pride and flew up in the air a bit higher.

Dream nodded. "I want to fix this place. I want to restore it back to what it was originally. Before Nightmare was here, before he used me to fuck everything up. I will fight for the Dream SMP, for L'Manburg. I'm not giving up. No matter how many people hate me, I'm still going to be there for them." It seems Ghostbur's song had ignited a spark in him.

Phil, Sam, and George all smiled with him.

"We'll be here with you Dream." George nodded. "We're going to fight with you."

Ghostbur smiled at what he did. He bestowed hope and desire into them. He made Dream feel better. That was a job well done.

"Wil." Wilbur turned to Phil who placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for that mate."

Ghostbur smiled and swung the guitar to his back. "No problem. I want to help anyone, so if you need me to do anything, I'll be happy to help."

"I appreciate that." Dream smiled. "And together, we'll rebuild the SMP."

Sam chuckled. "I love the fire, but right now, you need to finish your soup."

Dream chuckled and ate another spoonful that Sam held out for him while everyone else went back to the living room, Ghostbur strumming quietly and smiled at the sweet song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted Ghostbur, but I didn't know how to add him, so I just made him play some music for Dream.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sapnap finally meets up with Dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this story is just going everywhere but eh, I'll continue to write it because this is fun.  
> But today, you got two chapters so enjoy!

Sapnap had never gripped his arms so hard. He was pinching his skin, trying to keep his nerves down, but they were shot.

Dream. Dream. Dream.

Dreamon. Dreamon. Dreamon.

Dream is a Dreamon. Dream  _ was  _ a Dreamon. Dream is now Dream.

How could Sapnap not have seen this?

They’ve been walking for a while when they finally reached a cabin in the middle of a taiga biome. They all slammed their boots outside the door so they didn’t track snow all over inside.

Techno grumbled something to Punz then opened the door, leading them inside.

Sapnap walked in and immediately looked around. Philza was on a couch reading a book; George was on his communicator, looking at some code while typing away; Ghostbur was here, surprisingly, strumming away on his guitar.

Techno and Punz had told them who had helped Dream escape. It was Philza, George (Sapnap kinda wishes George told him his concerns earlier, even if Sapnap was still angry at Dream at the time, he would’ve gone with him), Punz, Sam, and Techno. They were the five that went with each other to go save Dream. They’re the ones who found out about Nightmare. And now that Sapnap was aware of the Dreamon bitch, he was going to get his ass beaten.

But revenge could wait for later, now, he just wanted to see Dream.

Techno and Punz placed their gear on a coat rack and Tubbo and Sapnap followed suit.

  
  
George turned his head at the ruckus and his eyes grew when he saw Sapnap.

  
  
“Sapnap?” George asked. He waved his hand and the code screen disappeared. He stood up and walked over to Sapnap, embracing him into a hug.

  
  
“I am so stupid.” Sapnap said, his eyes tearing up.

“We all were.” George hugged him tighter. “But you’re here now, and that’s all that matters.”

Sapnap nodded and stepped back from the hug. Now Phil had stood up, placing his book down on the couch next to him and picked Tubbo up, hugging him as well.

  
  
Tubbo was crying and Sapnap knew what he was thinking.  _ “This is my fault, isn’t it?” _ He  _ was  _ the one who performed the exorcism, but even he wasn’t aware of how much Nightmare knew. Nightmare was clever and smart, maybe he picked it up from Dream. No one could have suspected what Nightmare would do.

  
  
Sapnap told him constantly on their way here that it wasn’t his fault, and even though he may need some reassurance from other people, he was positive Tubbo believed him. Which was good, the kid didn’t need to go around, blaming all of this on him.

Sam walked out of a room, closing the door silently, with an empty bowl in his hands. He looked up when he saw new feet on the floor. His eyes widened at the sight of Sapnap and Tubbo.

  
  
Sam didn’t ask any questions, and Sapnap wasn’t in the mood to answer. He knew where that door led and he wanted to see him.

Sapnap took a hesitant step forward then turned to Tubbo.

“Go see him.” Tubbo smiled. “I can explain the Dreamon situation.”

  
  
“Can I?” Sapnap turned to Sam who placed the bowl in the sink.

  
  
“I guess.” he said. “He’s probably going to pass out soon though.”

  
  
“That’s fine.” Sapnap walked forward, mumbling a quiet thanks to Sam as he stepped into the room. He just needed a few moments to say he was sorry.

He opened the door quietly like Sam did, then closed it just the same behind him.

Dream blinked a couple of times and turned to face Sapnap.

  
  
Sapnap drew in a breath.

There he was. He was skinnier than Sapnap remembered him being, even under all the blankets he looked malnourished. His eyes seemed duller than the normal shade of forest green. There were bandages all over him and Sapnap didn’t want to even think about what those bandages could be hiding.

Dream did this to himself? Techno told him that Dream basically submitted himself to torture by self harm all because he believed that what Nightmare did was his fault.  Seriously, Sapnap was going to punt that guy.

Dream was staring at him, probably trying to process the fact that Sapnap was here and determining if it was real or not.

“Hey Dream.” Sapnap walked over to his hurt friend.

“Sapnap?” Dream squinted as if that would help with what he was seeing. His speech was slurred and he knew Dream was tired, but he just wanted to see him, to say he was sorry for all he’d done.

“Yeah it’s me.” He sat down on the foot of the bed and grabbed Dream’s hand in his own, careful for the broken bones Dream may have.

“You’re really here?” Dream asked.

Sapnap nodded, tears starting to fill his eyes. “Yeah I’m here. Listen man, I’m so fucking sorry.”

Dream shook his head to the best of his ability. “No, it’s my fault.”

  
  
“You better not be telling yourself that Dream.” Sapnap sighed. “Everyone knows it wasn’t you. And I don’t want to hear any shit about how you allowed Nightmare to take over. Dreamons are powerful as they are decivious. He fooled all of us.”

Dream was silent before he nodded.

“I’m really glad you’re here Snapmap.”

  
  
Sapnap smiled and giggled and Dream let out a quiet wheeze.

“That’s not my name.” Sapnap closed his eyes and shook his head, a smile still plastered onto his face.

“Okay, Sappy Nappy.”

Sapnap chuckled and shook his head some more, all while Dream let out a soft wheeze.

  
  
“Speaking of nappy,” Sapnap ran his thumb over Dram’s wrapped knuckles. “You should get some sleep.”

Dream opened his mouth to respond, but Sapnap had seen the way Dream was blinking tiredly, trying to stay up so he could talk to Sapnap. Dream nodded and Sapnap placed Dream’s hand gently on the bed. Dream’s eyes fluttered close. Sapnap walked over to his head and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead (PLATONIC). He pulled up the blankets over Dream and stood there until he could hear Dream’s quiet snores and his chest rise and fall in a rhythmic pattern.

He was so fragile.  What happened to him in that cell?

Sapnap was furious. He was going to make Nightmare pay. All the hell that he has done, blowing up L’Manburg, ruining friendships, and worst of all, hurting Dream, his best friend. Nightmare was going to regret it all. He was going to regret ever crossing the Dream Team. Sapnap would make sure of that.

Sapnap walked out of the room and back into the living room where everyone was discussing. They paused and they looked up at him.

“So what’s the plan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> George already made up with him, so time for Sappy Nappy to do so.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare is back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short chapter, but a lot of people have been wondering where Nightmare is. I actually got this idea from the comments who were always saying it so I made it happen.

Nightmare zipped through the shadows of the SMP. He wrapped himself around a tree and stared out at the scene in front of him.

Leaving Dream has been such a sad thing to do. He really did like that body. He was tall, buff _ and  _ he was the Admin of the server. He was absolutely perfect.

But alas, Nightmare got too cocky and ended up getting thrown in jail. Luckily, he could just leave, but he had to recuperate from the separation. He had spent so long in Dream’s body, he felt so drained.

It had been months since he was able to get back on his feet. He started looking for a new vessel, but a part of him wanted to go back to his previous body. He’d come to the conclusion that he would possess someone, maybe someone small and inconspicuous (against his better judgement, he preferred big and terrifying vessels), then he would go into the prison and free Dream. His mind was probably ruined, but Nightmare just needed the body. Plus, Dream would be too weak to fight him anymore. That would make things so much easier.   
  
And plus, if they all thought Dream was still in jail, it would make his return ten times better. Nightmare was one for spectacular entrances.

  
Nightmare quieted his thoughts as two kids ran by him. One had blonde messy hair, and sky blue eyes. He wore a red and white t-shirt and some tan pants. The other was curious. Nightmare could sense he was half Enderman. Half his hair was black while the other half was white. His skin was the same way. If this kid was half Enderman, that could be useful for getting in and out of the prison with Dream.   


Within his time as Dream, he knew this prison was made of full obsidian and that there would be mining fatigue there. Breaking in would be hell, but if he could just teleport in, grab Dream, and teleport out, his job would be done so quickly.

It was the perfect plan.

  
Nightmare shrunk back into the shadows. He has found his next target. He’ll wait to get them though. His friend was next to him all the time, but some recon won’t hurt. He  _ does  _ need to know about this guy for the future.

_ Just wait Dream... I'm coming for you. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have added Ranboo and he is going to be Nightmare's next target. Are you happy comments?


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream is sick of Nightmare, so he makes a plan to end him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't beta read, so this may be bad but at least I wrote it.

“Dream no.”

  
  
“Dream yes.”

“Dream. No.”

  
  
“Dream. Yes.”

“Dream…”

  
  
“Dream…”

  
  
“No.”

  
  
“Yes.”

Phil sighed and yelled out of the room.

  
  
“GEORGE, TELL YOUR FRIEND NO!”

“NO DREAM!”

“George!” Dream whined falling into Philza’s arms.

  
  
“Dream!”

  
  
“George!”

  
  
“Dream!”

“George!” Dream held out his friend’s name.

  
  
“Well, at least we know the fever’s gone.” Phil held Dream up. “Even if you’re still being whiny.”

  
  
“I want to walk.” Dream fought to get out of Phil’s grasp.

“You’re too injured to walk.” Phil sighed as Dream struggled.

  
  
“Watch me.” Dream growled trying to get out of Phil’s grasp. He paused. “Can you let me go?”

  
  
Phil laughed and shook his head. “No.” he said as he brought Dream back to his bed.

Within the week and a half that Dream has been here, all his friends have been talking to him and making him feel better. He’s still not 100 percent his normal self, but he no longer blames himself for what Nightmare’s done. His voice has also gotten better. He looked healthier in general. That was good. He was even yelling at George again.

Philza felt himself smile. What was once a poor, lost kid, was now somewhere near the normal Dream.

  
  
“Phil seriously.” Dream said. “My legs aren’t going to get used to walking if I just sit down all the time.”   


  
Phil paused. Damn Dream and knowing that.

He sighed. “30 minutes. An hour at most.”

  
  
Dream nodded, and with Philza’s help, left the room.

Sapnap perked up when he saw them and laughed.

  
  
“I guess I know who won that fight.”

  
  
“Hey Dream.” Tubbo walked up to him. “I just want to say sorry for uhm, accidentally locking you out of your own body and giving a Dreamon free range to use you to destroy the server.” Tubbo fumbled around with his fingers.   


  
“Tubbo,” Dream started, “Nothing that happened is your fault. I blamed myself for what Nightmare did and I was told on multiple occasions that it wasn’t my fault. The same goes for you. No matter what happened that day, you were just trying to help. I appreciate that.”

  
  
“But I-”

  
  
“No buts.” Dream messed up his hair. “Thank you for being helpful.”

  
  
Tubbo looked down at the floor then looked up at Dream and smiled. Dream looked around the room to see who was there. It seemed like everyone but Ghostbur, who left to go back to the SMP, was here.

“Now,” Dream looked around and saw everyone gathered in the living room. “Let’s talk strategy.”

“Strategy?” Techno’s eyebrow raised.

“Nightmare is looking for a new vessel no doubt.” Dream explained.

“Well he’s not gonna find one as good as you. I already got voices in my head.” Techno shrugged.

  
  
“I don’t think he’s going to permanently stay in another’s body.”

  
  
“What do you mean?” Phil sat him down.

  
  
“Like Techno said, he’s  _ not  _ gonna find someone as good as me. I’m the admin, strong, and I hold a lot of power in this server.  _ Plus, _ he’s already used to me.” Dream lifted a finger up for every point he made. “Nightmare’s smart, and I’ve been stuck with him for a while. I know as much about him as he does about me. He’s too attached to let me go.”

  
  
“So he’s going to go looking for you.” Tubbo added.

  
  
“Yes, and as far as he knows, I’m still in the prison. After being with me for so long, he’s gonna have to adjust to not having me. That’s probably why you guys have had it so peaceful while I was in the prison.”

  
  
Everyone cringed at those words, but didn’t say anything.

  
  
“But I doubt that’ll stay for long. He’s probably already looking for a new vessel  _ just  _ so he can get me out of prison. Then he’ll ditch that person and use me.”   


  
“So the question is, who’s he gonna use.” Sapnap jumped in.

  
  
“Who’s he gonna use?” Dream repeated.

  
  
“Well it can’t be anyone in this room.” Tubbo pointed out. “If he still thinks Dream is in the prison, then he’s gonna use someone near the prison.” Everyone nodded.

  
  
“Nobody in the SMP will agree to let Dream out, so he can’t be looking for someone with power, but perhaps strength?” Punz proposed.

  
  
“Most of the strongest people are here.” Sam pointed out. “And I don’t think he would be foolish enough to pick a fight. Even if he did, against who? It’s not like we had guards in the prison.”

  
  
“So maybe he’s not going for power or strength. Maybe stealth?” Techno tried.

“Sneak into the prison, get Dream out, possess Dream. Simple enough.” George rubbed his chin with his fingers, nodding.

“You would need someone small and probably low profile.” Sapnap said.

  
  
“Well that marks off Tommy.” Phil interrupted. Techno laughed.

  
  
“Well that’s still a lot of people. Niki and Eret are the first that come to my mind.” Tubbo sat in thought.

“Eret’s too powerful to have Nightmare go flaunting around like that. Niki may be a good vessel.”

“You also have to keep in mind that Nightmare has to act like them or else someone will see somethings off.” Dream reminded them.

  
  
“This is all so difficult.” Tubbo sighed.

  
  
“Just tell me who Nightmare is possessing and I’ll kill him before it happens!” Techno slammed his fist into the side of the chair.

  
Dream laughed. “ _ I’m  _ the one who’s gonna be ending Nightmare’s life.”

  
  
“He deserves that right.” George nodded.

“But who the hell is going to be the vessel!?” Punz interrupted. “We have Niki, Callahan, Ranboo, Fundy-”

  
  
“Ranboo.” Dream interrupted him.

  
  
“What?” Punz asked.   
  
“Ranboo.” Dream looked at the floor in thought. “Ranboo can teleport. He’s half Enderman.”

  
  
“If you’re looking for a quick way into the prison, teleportation would be a good way to go.” Phil nodded in agreement.

  
  
“Oh no, he’s going after Ranboo.” Tubbo placed his hands over his mouth.

  
  
“We need to get to him before Nightmare can.” Dream headed for the door.

  
  
“No, wait, Dream. You can barely walk.” Sam stopped him.

“I’m not gonna stand by while Nightmare possesses someone else!” Dream snapped.

  
  
“No of course not.” Sam tried to calm him down. “But like you said, he has to act like them, so he has to study them. That means we have some time while Nightmare studies Ranboo before we go.”

  
  
Dream sighed and stood down.

  
  
“You go get some rest so you can walk. We’ll have you spar with Techno a bit so you can get back into the habit of fighting while the rest of us gather supplies.” Sam devised a plan.

  
  
Phil nodded. “When we’re ready, we’ll go get Nightmare.”

  
  
“Dream should be able to see him so it makes finding him a whole lot easier.” Tubbo jumped up.

  
  
“And then he can kill him.” George jumped up with him.

  
  
“How does one go about killing Dreamon?” Sapnap wondered.

  
  
“I know an enchantment we can use to enchant someone’s weapon.” He turned to Dream and smiled. “And I’ll make sure it works.”

  
  
“You can use my axe.” Dream said. “George collected my things when they broke me out.” Dream couldn’t help the smirk that rode up his face. “I’m gonna kill Nightmare with Nightmare.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what I'm writing anymore.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :) shit goes down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School has been destroying me. Turns out I had a class that I didn't know existed. That's hilarious.

Ranboo sat in the middle of the forest. His tail swished by his feet and his heterochromia eyes dashed through the leaves.

For a while, he's felt like something was watching him… waiting. It was very unnerving. And for some reason, Ranboo sensed that it was Dream's presence. But that was impossible, Dream was in prison. And nothing has blown up to show that he no longer was.

Maybe he was just being paranoid. Yeah. That was probably it. Right? Hopefully.

Ranboo teleported closer to L'Manburg. He'd been looking for Tubbo. The kid disappeared and even though Tommy wasn't worried, there wasn't any real danger around, he did want to find his best friend, so Ranboo volunteered to help.

Tommy was walking around the Dream SMP, while Ranboo teleported around the forest.

Ranboo gave a huff of annoyance and pulled out his communicator. He'd been trying to reach out to Tubbo, but all his messages went unanswered.

_< Ranboo whispered to Tubbo>_

_Ranboo: hey big man, where are u_

_Tubbo: oh hey_

_Tubbo: I've been places_

_Tubbo: sorry for not replying_

_Tubbo: been busy_

_Ranboo: with what_

_Tubbo: Dreamon stuff_

Now Ranboo was not very familiar with this Dreamon stuff. Something about Tubbo, Fundy, and Sapnap hunting these Dreamons and the first one being with Dream. That’s about all he knew.

_Tubbo: hey speaking of which_

_Tubbo: u haven't seen any_

_Tubbo: …_

_Tubbo: weird things have you_

_Ranboo: what do u mean weird things_

_Tubbo: you know_

_Tubbo: voices in your head_

_Ranboo: r u saying I'm a Dreamon_

Tubbo was silent for a moment.

_Tubbo: you never know_

_Tubbo: I'm testing everyone_

_Tubbo: it's like a sweep_

Ranboo paused and thought about Tubbo's words.

_Ranboo: I'm not a Dreamon_

_Ranboo: but I have had this weird feeling_

_Tubbo: what kind of weird feeling_

_Ranboo: like I'm being watched_

_Ranboo: idk maybe my enderman senses_

_Ranboo: but it feels like something is stalking me. Maybe its a dreamon?_

_Tubbo: dreamon specifically?_

_Ranboo: yeah_

_Ranboo: does that make sense_

_Ranboo: it's probably nothing_

Ranboo sighed and put his communicator away. Why he told Tubbo that, he had no idea. He just trusted Tubbo. The kid was nice and always a good person to talk to. Ranboo just felt as if he could just tell Tubbo everything. Also he seemed generally worried. It wouldn't have hurt to tell him his worries. Everyone was on edge after Dream was locked away. Feeling fear for the masked man was nothing new.

"Hello Ranboo."

Ranboo yelped and jumped into the air, accidentally teleporting three meters away from the figure.

Ghostbur just stared in surprise at him.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“No Ghostbur.” Ranboo sighed. “You just scared me.”

“I know I’m a ghost, but am I that terrifying?” Ghostbur seemed sad.

“No, no. I’m just on edge.” Ranboo sat down.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ghostbur sat down next to him, laying his guitar on the grass.

“It’s just…” Ranboo paused. “I’ve been having this weird feeling lately.”

“What kind of weird feeling?”

“Like I’m being watched.”

“Well, are you?”

“There’s no one around!” Ranboo gestured to the empty land surrounding them. “I’m just going crazy.”

“Maybe not.” Ghostbur smiled. “Maybe you have a secret admirer.”

“Haha, no.” Ranboo sighed again. “This person feels… haunting. Like their eyes burn into my soul even though I’ve never seen them.”

“Don’t Enderman already hate people staring at them?” Wilbur suggested. “Maybe it’s just your instincts kicking in.”

“I look at everyone in this server, I never get the same reaction. This just feels… like someone is hunting me.”

Now Ghostbur was told by Tubbo before he left about the situation with the Dreamon. It seemed far-fetched, but he did say that the Dreamon could be anywhere and only Wilbur was safe from him since he was dead. Some recon wouldn’t hurt.

“Is it like a spirit?” Wilbur prodded.

“Uh. No, well…” Ranboo scrunched his nose up as he thought. “I guess, yeah. It feels like I have a demon watching over my shoulder.”

That caused Ghostbur to shoot up and immediately start whispering to Dream.

_< Wilbur whispered to Dream>_

_Wilbur: Dreamon alert_

_Wilbur: Dreamon alert_

_Wilbur: Im pretty sure that ranboo is being stalked by the infamous dreamon_

_Wilbur: you know_

_Wilbur: the 1 that haunted u_

_Wilbur: i hvnt seen him_

_Wilbur: but he says he fels him_

_Wilbur: thats bad_

_Wilbur: right_

_Dream: I’m on my way_

_Dream: keep an eye on ranboo_

_Dream: and for the love of god_

_Dream: don't let Nightmare get anywhere close to the kid_

_Dream: contact me if anything changes_

_Dream: in his behavior or such_

_Dream: or if you see a giant dreamon trying to possess him_

_Wilbur: ok_

_Wilbur: will do_

_Wilbur: im at the forest near the lmanburg walls_

_Dream: ill be there in a sec_

_Dream: time to see if I can teleport again_

_Dream: ive been too weak to earlier_

_Dream: but im feeling better now_

_Dream: try to get him near other people_

_Dream: i don't think Nightmare will try and take him if he isn’t alone_

_Wilbur: eye eye captain_

_Dream: don't call me that_

“Ghostbur?” Ghostbur looked back down at Ranboo who was looking at him weird. “What were you doing?”

“Texting Dream.” Ghostbur said then he paused. _Didn’t Phil say to keep Dream a secret? Oh shit. Phil said to keep that a secret._

“Uhhh, I mean.”

“Why would you be texting my dear friend Dreamie?” A shadow formed behind Ranboo and Ranboo shrieked before running and hiding behind Ghostbur for cover.

“Well this is a pleasant surprise.” Ghostbur smiled at him. “You must be Nightmare, the dick, in Tubbo’s words.”

“You never answered my question.” Nightmare was an exact copy of Dream, just his body was all shadows and his mask was black with an orange face instead of Dream’s regular mask.

Wilbur chuckled and bent over to whisper to Ranboo.

“Whisper to Dream and tell him Nightmare is here.” Ghostbur whispered before distracting the figure again.

“What?” Ranboo tried, but Wilbur was already talking again. Ranboo sighed and pulled out his communicator.

_< Ranboo whispered to Dream>_

_Ranboo: hey Dream?_

_Ranboo: why is Wilbur telling me to text you about this guy named Nightmare_

_Ranboo: he looks like a Nightmare_

_Ranboo: he’s god damn terrifying, i’ll give him that_

_Dream: that’s not good_

_Dream: Ranboo, stay away from him_

_Dream: let Ghostbur do the talking_

_Dream: he’s a dreamon_

_Dream: and he’s not the nicest person out there_

_Ranboo: why does he look like you_

_Dream: because he was me_

_Dream: for a while anyway_

_Ranboo: how long has he been you?_

_From what Ranboo can recall about Dreamons, they aren’t exactly the kindest being out there. So if Dream was a Dreamon this entire time, where was Dream and did that mean that Dream wasn’t responsible for his actions?_

_Dream: i can’t really remember_

_Dream: i know its been a while_

_Dream: im sorry_

_Dream: i shouldve never gave him power_

_Dream: this is my fault_

_Dream: but Im going to end it_

_Dream: im the one Nightmare wants_

_Dream: so im gonna make sure he gets me_

_Ranboo: are you sacrificing yourself to this dreamon_

_Ranboo: you are a lot different than you normally were_

_Ranboo: i like this you better_

_Dream: :)_

There it was, Dream’s signature smiley.

Ranboo turned back into the conversation where Wilbur was coming up with excuses to cover up that he’d been talking with Dream.

Nightmare finally rolled his eyes and stalked up to Ghostbur.

“Listen, I am in no mood for games. No one will believe the word of a ghost, but him.” Nightmare glared at Ranboo who shrunk lower behind Wilbur. “He’s my next target. He will do wonderfully for my next step in my plan.”

“I don’t want to be a part of this plan.” Now Ranboo was stalling for time until Dream could get here.

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.” Nightmare chuckled.

An invisible force shoved Ghostbur to the side, leaving Ranboo without any protection.

“Woah! Okay. I guess we can't talk about this?”

“I’m not one for talking.” Nightmare bared his teeth in a sinister smile.

“Any last words?”

Ranboo had suddenly become speechless. All his words had run away terrified.

“Well then.” Nightmare shrugged and reached towards Ranboo.

“NIGHTMARE!” All of the sudden, a purple blade came falling down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am extremely busy but I got this chapter out! Enjoy my shitty writing!


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

Nightmare whipped his hand back as the blade fell between him and Ranboo.

The blade was Dream’s notorious netherite axe named “Nightmare”, quite ironic, and it looked a bit different from when Ranboo last saw it. There were white runes carved into the axe blade and it added a white, shimmering glow to the already purple glow that encased the axe.

Nightmare stared at the axe then up to Dream.

“What the hell?” He growled at Dream. “You’re out!?”

“No thanks to you, asshole.” Dream twirled his axe around in his fingers.

“I see you’ve upgraded your axe.” Nightmare said, baring his teeth at Dream.

“Yeah.” Dream stroked the blade then eyed Nightmare. “Perfect for killing you.”

“It’s nice that you think you can. You’re weak Dream.”

“From what I can tell, since we’ve spent so much time together, you’re not faring any better.” Dream smirked at him. “I guess leaving a body you’ve been using for months is straining.”

Nightmare growled again. “You want to be a dick?”

“I’m not the one going around and possessing people.” Dream stepped in front of Ranboo.

“I’m the one you want, not him. I’m the admin. I’m the one whose body you’re used to. I’m the one with the power.” Dream got into a fighting stance. “So let’s end this. You beat me, you can take my body again, and you can stay, I won’t try to take it back. I beat you, I get to end your life. Just you and me, no one else.”

Nightmare stared at him. “Deal.”

Nightmare and Dream shook hands and Dream teleported them into a faraway plains.

Nightmare pulled out his own replica of Nightmare, the axe, and twirled it around as he faced Dream.

“This ends now.” Dream took a deep breath.

Nightmare took a deep breath with him. “It does.”

Nightmare jumped forward and Dream brought up his axe to block the attack. He pushed back and Nightmare stumbled before he swung for Dream’s left. Dream ducked under the attack and leapt to Nightmare’s side and struck. Nightmare dodged but was a bit too slow so he was cut on his side. He quickly swung back and cut Dream across his chest, ripping his hoodie open.

Nightmare followed up by kicking Dream in the face, causing blood to spill from his nose.

Deram scampered and tried to gather his footing. Nightmare leapt up, striking the axe down and Dream quickly rolled out of the way, kicking Nightmare in the stomach. He swung his axe up and cut Nightmare across his chest like he did for Dream.

Nightmare lifted his hand up to his chest and scooped up the blood while he scampered back.

“Not used to feeling pain in your physical form, are you?” Dream took a deep breath.

“I will make your life and everyone else's hell.”

“Only if you win.”

Nightmare struck first and Dream bent backwards to avoid his head being cut clean off. He rolled to his right and swung his axe for Nightmare’s legs, trying to immobilize him. Nightmare jumped backwards and growled at Dream. He kicked Dream’s legs, sending him towards the ground and ran behind him, throwing his axe against his neck and pulling.

Dream dropped his axe and lifted his hands up to try and get the axe away from him.

“I can’t kill you, but give up now and maybe I’ll show your friends mercy.” Nightmare licked his lips.

“I know that’s not gonna happen.” Dream kicked his feet up and used the momentum to swing around, over Nightmare’s head. His head got out of where it was being held and he grabbed Nightmare’s axe and pulled against it, putting Nightmare in a chokehold instead.

Nightmare growled and fought, but Dream kept a firm hold.

“You are quite the trickster.” Nightmare growled.

“You and I have grown to be very much alike Nightmare.” Dream tugged on the axe. “I’ve learned a lot from you.”

“What do you want me to say? That I’m proud?”

“No, but I want you to realize-” Dream leaned over to Nightmare’s ear and whispered “-that the student has defeated the master.”

“It’s not over yet!” Nightmare pulled forwards, dragging Dream with him. Dream’s hold on the axe loosened and Nightmare pulled on it, ripping it from Dream’s grasp. Nightmare grabbed Dream’s hoodie and threw him onto the ground.

The air left Dream and he struggled to breathe for a minute after his back hit the ground. His vision was blurry and he tried to shake away the dots in his eyes. Nightmare brought his foot up and slammed it down on Dream’s chest, definitely breaking some ribs.

Dream wheezed and his hands clutched his stomach as he groaned with fire shooting from his chest, shutting his eyes due to the pain. He felt blood form in his mouth and the sweet, hot, sticky liquid spill over his lips and down the side of his mouth. His breath quickened but all he felt was pain pain pain.

Nightmare kicked him in the side and caused Dream to roll around in the grassy area.

“Now it’s over.” Nightmare knelt down next to him. “Your body is mine.”

Dream slowly turned his head, blood still spilling from his mouth. He eyed Nightmare who pushed his mask up onto his face, staring back at him with orange fiery eyes.

“You were never better than me.” Nightmare brushed Dream’s hair with his hand. “Now no one will stop me. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

Dream closed his eyes as Nightmare continued to run his fingers through his head.

“So weak.” Nightmare smirked. “You were always better when I was in control.”

“No-” Dream was interrupted as he coughed up his own blood. “No one w-will ever stop trying to defeat you. They will always try to kill you in my name.”

“But you will already be gone. And I doubt anyone would be able to kill me once you’re dead.” Nightmare rested his hand on Dream’s chest and pushed, causing Dream to cry out in pain. Nightmare watched as a single tear left Dream’s face and fell down his cheek, mixing with the maroon blood.

“If it means anything,” Nightmare sat down next to him, “I’ll give your friends a painless death.”

Dream opened his eyes to stare at him and Nightmare laughed.

“You know me too well.” Nightmare drew his thumb along the blade of his axe. “No, I won’t. I will make their pain so bad, that they will be begging to join you in the void.”

Dream drew in a sharp breath.

“No. One. Messes. With. My. Friends.” He reached over, and with what little strength he had left, grabbed his own axe and swung with all his power, cutting directly across Nightmare’s throat. Dream watched as his eyes grew big and he held his hand up to his throat to catch the blood, but it was no use. He was dead. Dream watched him as his body went cold and he fell over and disappeared into nothing but dust. Tubbo did his job well, the enchanted axe finished the job.

<Ṅ̴̡̢̧̙̳̯͕͋̍̽̂͘̕i̴̦̗̯̓̍̍͋̑̔͌g̶̨̡̘͖̯̥̗̻͑͌̋͛͝͝h̴̟̱̠̳͚͖͒̊̇̈́̐͋̃͝ẗ̸̛̞͙̝̬́̃̊̕͝͠m̷̧̛͎͖͕̭͒̏̌̕ä̵̦̿͗͋̓r̶̘̓̾̋͂̉e̶̜̜̳̥͎͓͕̪̓̇͐͝͠ was slain by Dream using Nightmare>

He killed Nightmare with Nightmare.

Dream could feel his own pool of blood form around him from his wounds and he laid back down in the grass, closing his eyes.

Now he can finally rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it is done.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You wanted to know what happened after the last chapter.

He felt like he was nothing and everything at the same time. He was cold and hot. His mind was there, but it also wasn’t. He could feel the world around him, but it was also fuzzy and non-existant. He was drifting as if he was in water, but no liquid swarmed around him, soaking his clothes and making his hair stick to his head like seaweed. He was just floating with nothing around him. He was just floating in the black void.

He was nothing and everything.

He was a speck of dust in a much larger universe. He was an admin for his land called the Dream SMP. He was one of billions of humans in the universe. He was a friend to many. He was a man with dreams. He was a man who was there for his allies. He was one of many possibilities. He was a part of his own story.

He was here, in the void, and he wrote on the pages of his book. He told his own story as he made it. Every choice was written down into words as Dream’s life unfolded.

He finished his story by killing Nightmare. His life was fulfilled. He saved his friends. He saved everyone.

He did it.

He felt himself just float in the void as he finally got time to think. Everything that happened, it led up to this one moment. The prison was the key to finally get Nightmare vulnerable. Dream may have hated it there, but it allowed him to be him.

He was grateful for just that.

Thoughts swirled in his head and it seemed like he could feel the past, present and future all at the same time.

He saw the beginning of the SMP, when they all first got there and built the community house. He saw every new arrival and he saw him greet them. He saw the Dream SMP be built up and he saw L’Manburg rise from nothing but a van as well. He saw the war between the two. He saw the independence. He saw his friends teasing him and laughing with him. He saw the blood and damage. He saw the present with his friends looking for him. Each one worried for him. Each one hoping he was safe. He saw the future. A future without him, but that was fine. He did what needed to be done. He saw his friends live happily without him, as he finally set them free. He saw everyone come together as the devastation was finally put to an end. He knew… he could rest in peace.

But then there were voices. Voices filled his head and he remembered who said them and where.

“Oh George! Come here George!”

*high pitched screaming*

“What are you doing, you muffinhead!”

“Come on Snapmap.”

“Call me Snapmap again and we’re gonna have issues.”

“Yes! Daddy Dream!”

“Hey Big D!”

“POG CHAMP!”

"Just killed a woman, feeling good."

“We didn’t start the fire! It was always burning, since the world’s been turning!”

"Ey, welcome to the barrio man."

“You know what? Let’s find out, you son of a bitch.”

"GLATT!”

“Man, sucks to suck.”

“Blood for the Blood God!”

His friends. Dream wanted to see his friends, and not in visions or memories, he wanted to be there with them. He wanted to feel their warm embrace as they wrapped him in a hug, congratulating him for everything he’s done. He wanted to see them smile and laugh and he wanted to be there as well, wheezing as they all died from laughter.

He wasn’t ready to die.

Dream tried to move, he tried to reach out to them, hoping that if he could grab onto one of the memories and hold on, then maybe he could be brought back. But the memories were too far away. They washed away and he was left once again in the darkness. He couldn’t move at all; he just stayed still, floating through the endless void of space surrounding him, in the middle of certain death and life, but he knew he was probably too far gone to get the latter.

This was it.

This was checkmate.

He missed them.

He wished his friends missed him too.

But floating in the endless void, he couldn’t do anything except imagine their hands wrapped around him and hope that they were now living their best lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of you were like, Dream is fine there's still a couple of chapter left!
> 
> :)
> 
> I have a twitter @SunFlarerito where I shit post and you can go an send me art or yell at me for this chapter.
> 
> :)


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter made you guys cry...  
> How about this chapter?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)

It was three hours before they found him.

Three hours where he was just lying there, bleeding out. They weren't sure if he was still alive, heartbeat to faint to pick up.

They immediately brought him to Bad who was having a discussion with Tommy. When they both saw him, they both gasped. Tommy because he couldn’t believe Dream was out of the cell, and Bad because Dream was injured.

They immediately brought him inside, placing him on a bed and Bad got to work. He had to take a knife and cut off Dream’s hoodie and shirt, in order to get a clean look at the cut Nightmare had applied. Blood had stained his entire chest red and the blood spilling from his mouth wasn’t looking too good either.

Bad ran his hand down Dream’s side where his ribs were and pushed slightly, looking for any other injuries. He reached for his nose and cracked it back into its place.

“Bad…” George fumbled around with his fingers. “How bad is it?”

“This cut is probably the worst of it. He has multiple broken ribs, his ankle is definitely sprained, there is one hundred percent some internal bleeding and the bruise on his throat will affect his speech until it can heal.”

“Will he live?” Sapnap walked up next to George. He looked on the verge of crying.

“It took a while to find him and he lost a lot of blood since then.” Right then, Phil walked up with a bag of medical supplies. “Phil and I will see what we can do.”

“Until then,” Phil said as he rummaged through his things, “I say you give Dream some privacy while we work on him.”

They didn't say how they could've been too late.

The others nodded and all left the room. Once the door closed, Tommy exploded.

“SO DOES SOMEBODY WANT TO TELL MY WHY THE HELL DREAM IS OUT OF PRISON AND IS ON DEATH’S DOORSTEP!”

Tubbo sighed and explained the entire thing about the Dreamon Nightmare and how it tortured Dream.

After about half an hour of explaining, Tommy just stared at him with a blank expression.

He finally took a deep breath after a couple of minutes of silence.

“You mean to tell me… that the Dream who was stealing my disks, wasn’t… Dream?”

Tubbo thought it over before nodding. “Y-Yeah.” he said.

Tommy brought both hands up to his mouth, eyes widened with fear.

George was surprised. He has never seen Tommy handle something so calmly.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?”

Nevermind.

“Tommy, please.” Techno said.

“DREAM HAS BEEN A FUCKING DREAMON ALL THIS TIME AND NO ONE SAID SHIT!? HOW THE FUCK DID NO ONE REALIZE! YOU TWO!” Tommy pointed at George and Sapnap.

“From what I can tell, you didn’t recognize either.” George crossed his arms over his chest.

“And you were with him during exile.” Sapnap defended himself and George.

“Wasn’t he your friend as well?” Punz butted in.

Tommy shut his mouth and muttered a few curse words.

George sighed and Sapnap wrapped his arms around him, engulfing his friend in a hug.

There was no need for fighting. Dream was probably dead and they were just yelling. Dre wouldn't have wanted this.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” George felt a tear prick his eye because Tommy was right, even if he did yell it, no one realized that Dream was fighting his own internal battle, no one saw it. He felt his skin go cold as he started to cry more.

“Tommy, maybe now isn’t a good time to be yelling about these things.” Techno patted him on the back. Tommy looked at George, his face falling, and he nodded silently.

“I’m sorry.” Tommy apologized.

Wow. George had never heard Tommy apologize either. He half expected him to explode again like he did earlier, but Tommy stayed silent, the weight of everything hitting them like a meteor.

George looked back at the door and turned to the others. Punz had pushed his way through to grab George and Sapnap and lead them away.

“Come on guys, let’s go somewhere else.” Punz led them outside and George looked around at the forest. He knew what Punz was doing. The longer they stay near that door, the more likely George and Sapnap were to have a breakdown. But it didn't seem like a change in scenery would help.

Dream always loved the natural scenery. Whenever he was stressed or needed a minute, he would climb up the nearest tree and just rest his eyes. George and Sapnap would find that he went to the forest to just walk around whenever he needed to clear his head. He would listen to the wind brushing past the leaves, the water from streams trickling down the hill, the squeaking of critters who scampered up the trees.

It seemed like everything was reminding him of Dream. Maybe he could just focus on the nature.

“Can we take a walk through the forest?” George suggested. Sapnap eyed him before smiling and nodding, understanding what George was getting at.

Punz agreed and led them away.

\---

Tommy was sitting down hugging Tubbo, trying to comfort him. The kid felt so bad for letting Nightmare loose and even though Tommy only understood about five percent of everything, he comforted Tubbo and forgave Dream.

If what they say is true and Dream was really a Dreamon all this time, then he couldn’t keep yelling at Dream for making him feel like shit if it was Nightmare all along.

In fact, Tommy is quite surprised he didn’t notice sooner. He did spend a majority of his exile with Dream, or Nightmare. He was so caught up in thinking that Dream lost himself in his lust for power, he didn’t think about the fact that it wasn’t Dream at all.

Of course it wasn’t. Dream cared about Tommy and Tubbo. He was best friends with George and Sapnap. He wouldn’t just leave them. He wouldn’t destroy everything they built up and he wouldn’t take what was most precious to anyone.

Nightmare was a dick and Tommy was glad he was dead.

(He was kinda sad that he missed the dramatic death though).

But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was here for Tubbo. Everyone else was busy, Punz leaving with George and Sapnap so they don’t have to bear seeing their best friend like this, Techno and Sam having a discussion about something, Tommy wasn’t paying attention, Phil and Bad working their hardest to save Dream (no one mentioned that it might already be too late to save him), and everyone else was trying to recuperate from what happened. Punz had sent out a message to everyone in the SMP telling them what happened. But it didn’t matter if they were busy or not, Tommy would be there to comfort Tubbo no matter what.

Tubbo had stopped crying, even though his face was still red. He was now just resting on Tommy’s arm, sniffling every now and then. He got his shirt completely soaked, but Tommy didn’t mind. Anything for the big man.

“He’s gonna be ok.” Tommy rubbed his arm in comfort. He wasn’t even sure if what he said was true, but he believed in Dream. Dream was strong. He dealt with a Dreamon for months, some injuries wouldn’t matter that much, right?

Hopefully.

Tommy didn’t want to think of the other option.

And for once, he wondered what would happen if Dream did die. He thought about it before, when he was still angry at Dream, but now he was thinking of it negatively, how much it would affect the lives around him.

Would the server suffer? And if yes, how so? Who would run the SMP afterwards?

No. Don’t think that way. Dream will make it.

Tommy turned to Tubbo and buried his face in his chest, trying to stop the tears from coming.

Dream would make it. He had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been breaking your guys' hearts for the past couple of chapters. Will this one be any different?

Bad and Phil had come out of the room telling everyone that they did what they could. They stitched up the scar on his chest, bandaged his sprained ankle and applied some ointment to the bruise on his throat.

He was stable, for now, they didn’t know how long that would last. He was close to his last breath. Their only hope was that Dream didn't give up his will to live.

They hoped it didn't come to that. They treated Dream like shit even though it wasn't him in control. He probably hated them all and they didn't blame him. Even if they were there for him after he got out, it didn't erase the pain they inflicted before. Tommy taking two of his lives, George and Sapnap abandoning him just for being dethroned, the entire SMP calling him a monster.

If Dream gave up, they wouldn't blame him. But they all hoped he didn't.

George and Sapnap were the first to visit him. Next was Punz and Sam, followed by Tommy and Tubbo. Techno finally went last.

Techno pushed open the door and sat down next to Dream’s bed. His eyes were closed and his breathing wasn’t rhythmic, instead, he was taking stuttered breaths.

Techno sighed and placed his hand on Dream’s hand, one of the only things that weren’t covered by a blanket.

That was the excuse he told himself anyway. The truth was that he just wanted to feel Dream's touch again, hoping Dream would actually react to having his hand be held.

Alas, there was no reaction. Not even a simple flinch.

Techno sighed and pushed the thoughts aside.

“You did the SMP a good deed today.” Techno said. “Tubbo said that he was gonna go look for any other signs of Dreamons but after you killed Nightmare, the others would back off most likely.”

“I can’t believe that after all this time, you finally got rid of him. He caused so much problems and we were all too stubborn to think too much into your case. But we’re here now. And we fixed it, together.”

Techno decided that he was done with all the touchy feely stuff. He wasn't good at it anyway. The thoughts in his head were deathly silent, as if they too were mourning the fallen admin. Techno felt his eyes water. He didn't want to cry.

“I hope you're ready for some more sparring when you wake up.” Techno smiled. ‘If you wake up’ just stayed a thought in the back of his head. There was no need to think about that.

“You probably need your rest, so I’ll leave you to it.” Techno said as he stood up. He didn’t want to admit that he just didn’t want to see his friend like this anymore.

\---

A week.

It’s been a full week.

And nothing.

Dream had made no sound of being alive other than his quiet breaths and gentle heartbeat that was too slow for George’s liking. He also didn’t like how shallow his breaths were.

Everyone on the SMP got back to their normal business, Sam destroying the prison and the others helping as well. George went to help, but it only reminded him of Dream and he had a breakdown. So he stayed by Dream at all times. He slept on the couch that was in the room, which was very uncomfortable and he always woke up still feeling tired, but he doubted he would get a good night’s rest if he was in his own bed. So he stayed, comforting Dream even in his sleep.

He was waiting for him to wake up. If he woke up. No. George shook that thought away. Dream will wake up. He just needed to be patient.

He was crunching down on an apple he got from the kitchen and he was heading back up to Dream’s bedroom. He opened the door and closed it with his foot. He eyed his sleeping friend all laid nicely on the bed. He sighed and sat at the foot of the bed. He ran his hand through his hair, finishing off the apple.

“You know, I miss you.” George said to Dream, even if he couldn’t hear him.

“I was an idiot for not realizing sooner that it wasn’t you. I’m supposed to be your best friend and I lost you just because of some stupid shit. I wasn’t there and if I was, I doubt any of this would've happened.” George sighed. “And I know if you were awake you tell me something like ‘George, stop blaming yourself for everything. Just because you’re British doesn’t mean that everything is your fault.’” George did a horrible imitation of Dream. “And I get that, but I can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if I did figure it out; if I did realize that it was Nightmare all this time. I would like to say that I would've stopped him, but I don’t even know where I would've even started. I want to think of myself as the hero, but I would freeze up if you were in such trouble. I feel awful. I’m not you Dream, I can’t swoop in, axe out and fight off all the monsters like you, but I wish I could. ‘Cause if I could, I would be with you all the time just to help you fight, because after what happened, I don’t want you by yourself at all anymore. I won't let you be by yourself anymore like I did before. I won't fail you.” George grabbed Dream’s hand and squeezed. “I just don’t want a repeat of this. I really miss you.”

George turned away as tears pricked his eyes. He knew what was happening. Dream had been unresponsive for a week.

…

It was over.

“You’ll tell me you miss me, but you won’t tell me you love me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter left.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are, the end of a story.  
> Thank you all so much for the clout this story has gotten! I have never thought that it would have blown up so much! I'm glad you guys enjoyed it, but alas, all good things must come to an end.  
> So, just wanted to say, you can follow me on twitter @SunFlarerito where I just post whatever, but I also post story updates (also send me any fanart you made if you want. No? Ok.)  
> You can also check my ao3 account for other works you may like. You know. Ye.

George yelped and shot up from where he sat at the sound.

“Dream!?” He turned to stare at his best friend laying on the bed, his chest rising as he wheezed. He was fucking wheezing. He was alive. George wasn’t dreaming (though he did pinch himself to make sure). His friend didn’t die. “What the hell!”

“T-The l-look on y-your face.” Dream lost himself as he turned into a tea kettle.

Despite Dream’s obvious teasing, George was more focussed on Dream’s health. He didn’t know if the stuttering was from him wheezing, or the fact that he was nearly choked to death.

“W-What’s wrong George? Why w-won’t you tell me you love m-me?” Dream stopped wheezing and went into a coughing fit. George quickly sprung into action and grabbed some water on the table next to Dream’s bed and lifted up his head so he could pour the liquid down his throat.

“We’re not doing this again.” George answered. Dream frowned at him but continued to drink without complaint.

George took the cup away from Dream, only halfway gone so he didn’t choke. Dream scrunched his nose up and swallowed.

“How long have you been up?” George asked, sitting back down.

“Ever since ‘I’m not you’.” Dream smiled.

“You heard all of that?” George ran his hands down his face. Dream chuckled again, but didn’t go too extreme in case he started choking again.

“I-I know you’re not me, you’re you. I don’t e-expect you to be me. But you’re so amazing. Y-You are so great George. You’re not a fighter, but you’re a great friend. A high pitched screamer. A-A great coder.”

“I should be telling you this stuff.” George smiled softly at him.

“Shut up, I’m appreciating you.”

George rolled his eyes and looked at Dream.

“You’re a great friend too. You are a great protector. You can be an asshole at times, but you have a good heart. You can also be really stubborn and a pain in the ass. You’re great at parkour and you are the greatest admin to ever exist. You defeated Nightmare and you saved all of us. You-”

“T-That’s enough praise.”

“I get to praise you all I want.” George pointed a finger sternly at him.

“No.” Dream shook his head and started wheezing again.

“See, stubborn.” George rolled his eyes.

He sat there smiling while Dream wheezed some more.

“I should tell everyone you’re awake before they bite my head off.” George said as he pulled out his communicator and typed into the chat.

_GeorgeNotFound: Hey guys! Guess who’s up…_

_GeorgeNotFound: :)_

George tried to put his communicator away, but not before the chat started to blow up with everybody flooding in to find out what happened with Dream.

_Tommyinnit: Big Man is up!?_

_Awesamdude: How is he? Is he okay?_

_Ph1lza: Does he need anything?_

_Technoblade: Is he good to spar? I need to fight something._

_CaptainPuffy: IS MY DUCKLING OKAY!?_

_Sapnap: I swear if you two are making out_

George shut his communicator off before Sapnap could continue.

“They’ll probably be here in the next five minutes.” George turned back to Dream who was struggling to get up. “What do you think you’re doing?” George asked, baffled.

Dream stared at him like he was an idiot.

“Getting up.” Dream said as he grunted and sat up.

George placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back into his bed. Dream went down with an 'oomph'.

“You are recovering after being possessed by a Dreamon, being thrown in jail for months, then proceeding to fight said Dreamon without properly healing all the way. You’re not getting up.”

Dream rolled his eyes but laid back down in his pillow without further complaint.

“Whatever mom.”

George scoffed and slapped Dream’s arm as he wheezed.

“You have Philza, Sam and Bad and Puffy to be your mother. I’m nowhere close.”

Dream continued to wheeze and soon, the SMP members flooded into the room. George was impressed they came so fast, but they probably all herded together and made a mad dash towards Dream once they heard the news.

“Dream!” Tubbo called as he leapt up to hug Dream. “I’m so glad the Dreamon is gone.”

“Thanks to your enchantment, it k-killed him.”

“I’m glad to have you fully back, no more Dreamon shit.” Sapnap walked up and pulled his best friend into a hug, completely smothering Tubbo.

“You and I, fight, tomorrow at sundown.” Techno pointed at him.

“Tech, you can’t just challenge Dream to a fight tomorrow. He still has to recover.” Phil pointed out.

Techno huffed. “Fine. You and I, fight, three days, at sundown.”

“Techno!” Phil started to explain how Techno can’t just challenge Dream to a fight because he was still healing. Techno just crossed his arms over his chest and stared at him with a dead gaze, trying to explain how he needed to spar with someone and Dream was the only one who could keep up with his skill.

Ranboo took this moment to walk up to Dream. He was clearly nervous since he was fumbling around with his fingers.

“Thank you for um… saving me from that Dreamon.” Ranboo smiled.

“I-I would never let anything h-hurt you Ranboo.” Dream smiled back and opened his arms for a hug. Ranboo was shocked by this, he wasn’t close to him really, so he didn’t expect Dream to open up so easily to him and hug him, but he wasn’t going to complain. He leaned forward and hugged Dream, the warmth felt nice.

Sam walked forward when Ranboo backed off and he sat down next to Dream and ruffled his hair.

“I’m going to make sure you don’t get into trouble from now on.”

“That may prove to be d-difficult.” Dream smirked at him and Sam rolled his eyes.

“You gave me a heart attack.” Bad said as he put a hand to his chest for drama. “You were so close to death you muffinhead.”

“But I-I didn’t die.” Dream flashed a smile his way.

Bad frowned and Skeppy walked up to comfort him before he exploded on Dream.

Puffy was hesitant, but she stepped forward, her face melting when she caught Dream's expression. She leapt forward and devoured him in a hug.

"My little duckling is back home." she wept into his shoulder.

"I'm back m-mom."

Puffy started to cry even more at the nickname. Dream had never called her mom before and him saying it now made her weak.

They all said their apologies to Dream and soon enough, Dream started crying from all the respect and love he was getting. He believed that he shouldn’t have earned their forgiveness so easily, he thought he would have to work more for it, but they were all willing to comfort Dream and help him as he recovered. They all visited him and made sure he was occupied with their stories of their crazy shenanigans, mostly about Tommy doing something stupid. They kept him fed and even gave him some gifts, which he tried to deny, but they insisted.

When he was well enough to go outside, they showed him around and brought him to the new changes they made. The prison had been destroyed and the Dreamon camp had been upgraded. Everyone was educated by Tubbo on what he knew about Dreamons so if one came again, they would all know and they would all be prepared. They built Dream a bigger, better house than the one he used to live in, Techno having some complaints about finding it funnier when Dream was "homeless".

After some therapy with Eret and Phil, Dream started to get back into the swing of things. He got back into fighting, which Techno was thankful for, having terrorized basically everyone in the server for a fight. He got back into his natural duties as an Admin, making sure the server was running smoothly. He made peace across all the nations in the Dream SMP and they were still divided, but they were together as one. They all worked together to undo the work Nightmare did and even revived Wilbur since Dream knew how. The ghost was surely happy to have a physical body again. He made amends and lived life like he once did.

Later on, Dream had initiated manhunts again to sharpen his skills and try out new techniques. He challenged himself against the normal four hunters and ended up destroying them so much, the hunters refused to acknowledge that the manhunt even happened. They came back to the SMP with the hunters all beat up and Dream wheezing like the kettle he is.

The world was finally free and they still had their little wars, all for fun though, and they made sure not to kill anyone or torture anyone, Dream was strict about that sort of thing. But besides that, they were having fun and Dream, for one, was happy to have his family back.

No one mentioned or talked about Nightmare anymore, because, after all…

The Past Is Just a Memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. The end. Hope you guys all enjoyed!  
> Again, thank you for all the appreciation, comments kudos, hits. We hit 25000 hits so I uploaded the last chapter for celebration of that success!  
> Love you all and remember to stay awesome!  
> Dragon love to you all! <3 :)  
> (Pst, follow me on Twitter @SunFlarerito)


End file.
